How Much Paranormal Belongs in a Cozy Mystery?

I like a little impossible in my mysteries. Not enough to make the clues irrelevant. Just enough to make things more interesting.

That’s roughly where Grok lives.

He’s a psychic Maine Coon. He communicates with Amanda. He occasionally knows things no ordinary cat should know.

But the Amanda Warren Cozy Animal Mysteries are still whodunits.

There are suspects, motives, clues, red herrings, and a solution Amanda has to work out.

Grok can help.

He cannot simply announce the killer on page forty and go back to sleep. That would be efficient. It would also be a very short book.

For me, that balance is what makes light paranormal cozy mysteries fun.

The paranormal element should open up possibilities, not replace the mystery. A talking cat can overhear something a human missed. A psychic impression can point in a direction. An unusual ability can complicate a relationship or make a clue possible. But the reader should still be able to follow the investigation and understand how the pieces fit together.

That’s the part I care about most.

I enjoy the slightly impossible. I also enjoy the moment when all the very ordinary evidence finally clicks into place. Maybe that’s why Grok works for me. He can see more than Amanda can. He just can’t do all the thinking for her.

He would disagree with that statement.